Just 7,000 GB dairy farmers in production as prices slide

The UK dairy sector has seen further consolidation in the past year, as the industry shifts to fewer producers delivering larger volumes of milk.

The number of GB dairy farmers fell to 7,010 in October 2025, according to estimates based on the AHDB’s latest survey of milk buyers.

This represents a marginal loss of 190 dairy producers in the past year. However, only about 30 of these took place since April 2025.

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Soumya Behera, senior dairy analyst at AHDB said: “Firm milk prices and good profitability during the summer months may have reduced the flow of producers exiting the industry temporarily.”

Meanwhile, average milk volume a farm has increased by almost 7% during the past 12 months to 1.82m litres, highlighting the shift towards larger dairy farms.

Daily GB milk deliveries were running 5% above last year’s levels during early December, at 35.6m litres a day.

Looking forward, lower farmgate milk prices and tightening margins for producers are expected to curb output to some degree and could lead to more farmers leaving the industry.

Ms Behera added: “The dairy market is likely to see further price falls due to oversupply in both the domestic and global markets which will be felt in farmgate milk prices in the months ahead.

“Many processors have already announced substantial price reductions in the November to January period.

“With growing input costs including labour and forage and an increasing environmental regulatory burden it would be surprising if we did not see further exits in the next six months.”